1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for entering Hangul (Korean) characters into electronic devices and, more specifically, to a method and apparatus for forming Hangul characters by selecting Hangul character components displayed on a relatively small display region.
2. Related Art
To enable the users who are only conversant with Korean language to efficiently operate electronic devices such as the cellular telephone and personal digital assistant (PDA), the instruction and information displayed on these electronic devices have to be in Korean language. The Korean written language uses two types of characters: Hangul and Hanja. Hangul is the native name for the Korean language, and Hanja is the Korean name for ideographic characters of Chinese origin. The Hanja characters are usually used in more formal written communications. Most daily communications are written in Hangul. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a mechanism to allow users to enter Hangul characters into electronic devices, because some information in electronic devices needs to be customized by individual users.
A Hangul character is usually composed of at least one consonant and a vowel. Conventionally, the whole set of Hangul consonants and vowels are assigned to the keys on a keyboard. For example, the whole set of Hangul consonants and vowels can be assigned to a computer keyboard having more no more than fifty keys when used with the SHIFT and ALT keys. However, the conventional method is not suitable for portable electronic devices which have few keys or do not have a keyboard at all. An external keyboard could be attached to these portable electronic devices. However, it is inconvenient to do so due to the small size of these portable electronic devices.
Furthermore, portable electronic devices typically have a relatively small display region. This increases the difficulty of entering Hangul characters.
There is, therefore, a need to provide a method and apparatus for entering Hangul characters into electronic devices that have few keys or do not have a key board.
There is another need to provide a method and apparatus for entering Hangul characters into electronic devices that have a relatively small display region.
The present invention provides the methods and apparatuses to meet these two needs.